Family and Key Staff

Mandy Dixon

Mandy heads our culinary program at the lodges and at the La Baleine Café in Homer. She is a graduate of the Cordon Bleu Culinary School and the Culinary Institute of America pastry arts program. Mandy is the co-author of the Tutka Bay Lodge Cookbook. Obviously, she loves to cook!

Carly Potgieter

Carly is a professionally trained fitness instructor, massage therapist and yoga instructor. Carly is a passionate fly-fisher, world-traveler and enjoys all activities in the Alaska outdoors.

Tyrone Potgieter

Ty oversees our helicopter programs at both lodges. A helicopter pilot, Ty is also an expert fly fisherman and talented photographer. He has taken most of the images of our website and is the official photographer of our last two cookbooks The Winterlake Lodge Cookbook and The Tutka Bay Lodge Cookbook. Carly met Ty, a South Africa native, whilst working in Russia at the renowned Ponoi River.

Neil Lippincott

Neil is our company expeditor. He manages freight loads to and from the lodges, organizes the purchasing of all our supplies, including food and fuel. Neil travels between the lodges and Homer frequently in his job and he often helps Carl with the building of cabins and lodge infrastructure. Neil is our star softball player and he enjoys all things related to organized sports.

Rohnen Potgieter

Roh is our company Kindergartner, five years old and already a competent one-dog dog musher, Rohnen entertains lodge guests with his stories of life lived in the back country. Rohnen has traveled by floatplane, skiplane, train, boat, helicopter, raft, and inside a backpack throughout Alaska, Hawaii, England, and South Africa.

Graham Jones

Graham is our Anchorage-based reservations manager. He is the glue that keeps us together. Graham answers phones tirelessly and hand-crafts detailed itineraries for our lodge guests to perfection. Graham enjoys kayaking, river rafting, and photography. Originally from North Carolina, Graham is a good ole’ Alaska boy now.

John Williams

J is our Winterlake Lodge winter caretaker and a member of our winter guide team. His outdoor adventures are formidable. He has accomplished many long-distance mountaineering, biking, and other backcountry adventures within Alaska and around the world. J takes expert care of our beloved dog team. Amongst other talents, J is an expert chess player.

Michael Gustafson

Gus is our guide manager at Tutka Bay Lodge. Previously working at Winterlake Lodge, he now has settled in to permanent assignment on the ocean. Gus is a remarkable naturalist and hiker. In the winter months, he is a resident naturalist at the Eagle River Nature Center outside of Anchorage where he teaches many classes ranging from fire starting to mushroom identification.

McKenzie Ardisson

Kenzie was raised in northern Wisconsin, McKenzie headed west after graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota to indulge her adventurous spirit and pursue a life in the mountains. Experienced in guest services management, adventure travel sales and marketing, food and beverage and resort retail, McKenzie’s has had the opportunity to work and live in the mountains of Southeast Alaska, Utah, Colorado and Montana before joining Within the Wild as Lodge Manager at Tutka Bay. She is excited to be returning in 2018 as Lodge Manager at Winterlake Lodge.

Tony Ardisson

Tony is a 6th generation Montanan born and raised in the mountains, Tony has been working in guest services for nearly 18 years. With an extensive background ranging from guiding fly fishing, whitewater rafting, hunting and shooting instruction to international sales and marketing and building luxury food and beverage programs, Tony’s hospitality skills are founded in experience and dedication. Tony thrives on sharing what he is most passionate about with others. He was introduced to Alaska as operations manager at Tutka Bay Lodge and is ecstatic to be returning to Winterlake Lodge as guide manager in 2018.

The Sled Dogs

Meet our sled dog team at Winterlake Lodge. Our beloved dog team, many born and raised at the lodge, others from the teams of Martin Buser and DeeDee Jonrowe, entertain us all year long. We get to know our dogs so well, the guides can tell when a dog is having a good day, a little moody, or ready to run! Axle, Rose, Duncan, Danger, Coleman, Frankie, Bailey, Fiona, Blarf, Betty, Rosie (Fletcher) Lindsay, Taupe, Jumper, Platinum, Seal, Blue, and Eyebrows make up our extended family at Winterlake Lodge.